Film Review: We’re the Millers

Asia Martin debuts for Pop-Break with a look at the late summer comedy.

Between National Geographic’s Drugs, Inc. and Comedy Central’s South Park, you’ll find “We’re the Millers” smack in the middle. The movie follows David Clark, played by Saturday Night Live’s Jason Sudeikis, a marijuana dealer with a debt to pay to the local drug lord and his old college buddy, Brad (Ed Helms). Clark is forced to drive down to Mexico and smuggle a ”smidge” of weed into the states without being detected, so he decides to create a suburban-like family to pass through border patrol. He hires his stripper next door neighbor, Rose (Jennifer Aniston), as his wife; Casey (Emma Roberts), a runaway as his daughter; and the modern day Leave It To Beaver adolescent (Will Poulter) down the hall from him as his son, for a family misadventurous weekend.

The trailers had me excited about two hours of Sudeikis and the moment I would be able to see more of Poulter karaoking to TLC’s “Waterfalls.” There’s just something about preppy, uptight-looking guys who get down to rap that is cute and funny.

Overall, the movie was good. Sudeikis was believable as a drug dealer in his mid-30s secretly wanting to join his peers in having his own family, and in an unexpected and non-traditional way, gets it. Helms stole every moment as a high-strung, obnoxious drug lord who is high on power and has Shamu in a fish tank that surrounds his office. Aniston brought the sex appeal, witty comedy and the motherly love to Rose, Clark’s romantic interest.

Emma Roberts’ character wasn’t comical and she fell into the background as a support. Had Casey added another type of humor to the mix, I could compare the Millers to a revamped Addams Family. Nonetheless, Roberts held her own and Casey’s runaway drama kept the film focused on the moral of the story. Excluding Helms as the drug lord, everyone else took a backseat to Poultry’s character who in the midst of his “mother’s” strip-tease grabbed screen time when he adjusted his bulge to remind the audience that its still a comedy.

The movie had its moments like a typical SNL episode, but none of those moments had me rolling on the floor or even laughing out loud. Since I only chuckled here and there throughout the movie, I’ll give We’re the Millers a 6 out of 10 on the ratings scale. There was language that wasn’t politically correct and will most likely get some backlash. There are scenes intertwining romance, cuteness and sex in ways that you should be glad you didn’t go see it with your parents or even siblings. Friends and significant others only, for this one.